Professor of Psychiatry

Director Research Global Mental Health

Division of Psychology and Mental Health

University of Manchester

Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Lead Culture & International Mental Health Research Group

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust

From the start of his medical career Professor Husain has had a keen interest in addressing the huge treatment gap in low and middle income countries (LAMIC). After initial training in psychiatry, Professor Husain completed his Diploma in Public Health (DPH) from Pakistan and Masters in Public Health (MPH) from Emory University USA. Once he had completed public health education he had the opportunity to complete Diploma in Psychiatry for Developing countries from the University of Manchester and was awarded the “WHO Prize for the best diplomat”. Prof. Husain obtained his Membership of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan in Psychiatry and Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Manchester. His research area is Global Mental Health and Cultural Psychiatry and the work fits well with the University and NHS strategy which emphasises translational research and international partnerships. His work in Pakistan, Canada, Brazil and Kenya not only has an impact in those countries but his understanding of working across cultures is proving very useful for the delivery of culturally sensitive care to the diverse population in the UK. His work has been reported in newspapers, radio & TV including BBC Asian Network & BBC Radio-4.

In this role along with UK and local charities in LAMIC he contributes to capacity building and producing local evidence to improve mental health care.  His work assists Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust towards the service development and integration of mental health services among Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities and BME service users in Lancashire. Prof Husain has been providing training in Assessment and Cultural Evaluation (ACE) locally and nationally. He organizes the conference “Culture & International mental health” in Manchester which is jointly sponsored by University of Toronto and University of Manchester.  Prof Husain is leading the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the University of Manchester and Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in order to promote joint research, teaching and training. DUHS is one of the largest health sciences Universities in Asia with five medical schools.

Professor Husain is at the forefront of applied research on culturally-adapted psychosocial therapies and innovative pharmacological treatments for mental illness. His internationally leading work is on improving access to appropriate mental health care for the diverse ethnic minority and other marginalised communities. Professor Husain's work is concerned with those aspects of cultural psychiatry which is not only contributing to address the huge Mental Health treatment Gap (MH-Gap) in the low and middle income countries (LAMIC) but have become increasingly important for the optimum development of UK and other high income countries mental health services. 

Professor Husain has successfully completed several externally funded projects which include MRC, Wellcome Trust, NIH-R, SMRI, CIDA, British Council, and has recently received funding from Grand Challenges Canada.  Professor Husain has established research units in Pakistan and Kenya and plan to soon establish such units in Bangladesh, Middle East and Brazil. Professor Husain leads the training in quantitative and qualitative research methods and since 2010 the research group has trained more than 500 clinicians in research methods. In low income and middle countries like Pakistan there is limited training in mental health nursing, as part of a British Council grant for capacity building in LAMIC Dr Husain initiated the first ever training programme for nurses in psychosocial interventions which are now incorporated into the curriculum. Professor Husain has published extensively in peer reviewed journals, more than 80 papers and 150 abstracts, contributed to book chapters, presented his work numerous at national and international conferences and is on the editorial board of prestigious journals.

2004

Specialist Register (General Adult Psychiatry)

General Medical Council, London UK.

2002

Doctorate in Medicine (M.D.)

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy, University of Manchester

1993

Diploma in Psychiatry (Dip.Psych)

School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester

WHO Prize for best diplomate

1989  

Master of Public Health (M.P.H)

School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

1987

Diploma in Public Health (DPH)

Pakistan Council of Legal Education & Research.

1985

Member of College of Physicians & Surgeons, Pakistan (M.C.P.S.Psyche)

College of Physicians & Surgeons, Pakistan

1983

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (M.B.B.S.)

Dow Medial College, University of Karachi, Pakistan